A major effort to protect a data center from cosmic rays, for example by coating it with lead, would be very expensive. It is easier and cheaper to maintain geographically distributed data backups. If the worst happens, clients can be hijacked to the backup server, Grayson says.
But for some applications, cosmic rays are taken seriously. Consider, for example, the stack of electronic components in a modern airplane that connects the pilot’s controls to the rudder. Leading aerospace and defense manufacturers are using components that are resistant to some of the effects of cosmic rays, says Tim Morin, a technician at Microchip Semiconductor. His company is among those who supply these ingredients.
“It is only immune to single-event disturbances caused by neutrons,” he says. “We are not interested.”
Moran refuses to specify exactly what approach his company has taken to make computer chips that are unaffected by neutron interference, except that it’s a matter of materials and circuit design.
Of course, not all applications require this level of security. It also isn’t possible to achieve this with every type of computer memory, Morin adds. But for organizations that put planes and satellites over our heads, this is clearly an important consideration.
The technology that virtually all of us now rely on has varying levels of risk associated with it. But it’s important to note that as the transistors in computer chips get smaller in the newer and more advanced semiconductors, They become more susceptible to electromagnetic interferenceVery.
“The cost of reversing the condition is lower,” Rich explains. If only a very small charge is needed, the chances of a subatomic particle being stimulated by that charge increase in principle. In addition, there are a growing number of computer chips, in devices from phones to washing machines. “The total area that can be damaged has greatly increased,” says Rich. The subatomic rain falling on our devices has more targets than ever to hit.
The consequences of this can be dire, but so far it is difficult to know to what extent this can harm us or the systems that govern the modern world. For Marie-Moe, the strange behavior of her pacemaker during that trip to Amsterdam six years ago led to a greater understanding of the device that is so important to the healthy functioning of her heart. but what Help him find it In the cyber security vulnerabilities of pacemakers.
If the wandering neutron is really behind it all, it is rather a chain reaction. So at least there can be positive results from small fluctuations, as well as scary results.
“I’m really happy it happened to me,” he says.
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